Nature Ecrogrow

In addition, the facility layer shares data and information with information system layer and the control layer.Control Layer: This layer provides modules for command transmission and remote control, including data collector, PLC ,DCS , FCS , remote controller,etc. The Control Layer is connected to the perception layer and the facility layer through LAN, Ethernet, WIFI and other networking methods.Perceptual Layer: This layer provides all kinds of hardware facilities perceiving data sources of RFID, vehicles, sensors, lab equipment and gateways. This layer provides the sensing and access to multi-source devices and interconnects with the Control Layer. The intensive and intelligent pig-raising model is gradually emerging. The intelligent pig farming fully applies information and telecommunication technology,artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things into pig production management for improving farming efficiency and reducing farming costs. Although the traditional pig industry has entered the on-stock stage, there are still many pain points in the industrial supply chain.

Based on a review of existing reports on modern pig research and practice, this paper defines an Industrial Internet-based Platform for Massive Pig Farming through integrating advanced artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, industrial Internet.We analyzed the requirements for the IIP4MPF in detail with a case study, and designed and practiced the IIP4MPF system using software engineering methods. Reconciling food security with conserving biodiversity is of utmost importance, mobile vertical grow tables but a difficult task. Two opposing strategies have emerged in the ecological and agriculturalist literature to address this challenge: Land Sparing and Land Sharing .Land Sparing Hypothesis is based on the idea that greater yields driven by technological land intensification could provide more food and still spare natural areas from being converted to agriculture.On the other hand, Land Sharing Hypothesis is underpinned by the evidences that non-intensive agricultural, biodiversity-friendly, and ecosystem-preserving agricultural systems should be pursued to balance conservation with environmentally and socially sound agriculture. LSH has proven effective for cases such as shade cocoa , shade coffee , home gardens and organic farming.

Given a fixed production target that can be meet by farming expansion or yield increase via agricultural intensification,LSP proponents posit that high-input systems decrease the need for farmland enlargement , leaving more space for biodiversity protection. As gross yield is considered the major bottleneck for food security by this framework, LSP defenders suggest that agriculture intensification can reconcile food and farming. Additionally, LSP proponents assume that most species follow a concave adjustment, declining steeply with the increasing of agriculture intensification and intermediate levels of intensification have relatively low conservation potential .On the contrary to LSP, LSH proponents see agriculture intensification as one of the major causes of water and air pollution, as well as depletion of ecosystems services from local to global scales. For example,pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers are amongst the greatest cause of water contamination. Critiques on LSP concern the fact that there is a positive effect of yield increase on farmland expansion ; the dynamic relationship among production and economic aspects ; the high productivity of some non-intensive methods; the fact that significant biodiversity can be held in intermediate intensive systems; and the importance of social aspects that affects food security beyond gross yield .

In this light, non-intensive agricultural systems benefit ecosystems services, such as carbon storage, pollination and pest control. Furthermore, non-intensive methods such as agroforestry systems maybe more adapted to climatic change than mono-specific plantations .The LSP-LSH debate has been very prominent in literature with nearly 829 papers published up to January2016, as shown by an exploratory search in Science Direct . Despite of the flourishing of the LSP-LSH debate, there also has been a call for moving beyond the sharing vs. sparing divide. Some authors point out the need to go over the dichotomy highlighting that land sharing and sparing approaches are not mutually exclusive. In a recent review Kremen supports that the dichotomy of the land-sparing vs. land-sharing frameworks limits the realm of possibilities to only two, largely undesirable, options for conservation. Further more, many questions are still to be addressed in the sparing and sharing debate. Among of them are comprehension of the complex relationship among agriculture intensification, land use and ecological responses. One of the few studies to address such issue was carried by Green in which the authors take some assumptions that were latter subjected to critiques .

Improving soil environment by controlling the organic matter level and nutrient ratio in the soil is important for soil micro organisms.In our previous study, we developed a soil fertility index, SOFIX, for the evaluation of soil fertility . Analysis of the SOFIX data from several agricultural fields clearly showed that the number and activities of microorganisms can be significantly enhanced by controlling total carbon and total nitrogen contents, and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios at ≥25,000 mg/kg, ≥2500mg/kg, and 10 – 25, respectively. However, the relationship between microbial activities and plant growth remains unknown. The objective of this study was to determine suitable soil conditions for improving the yield and quality of to matounder an organic farming system by enhancing the number and activities of soil microorganisms. Tomatoes were harvested once the fruits turned light red.

In all years, harvesting began at the end of June and lasted until the beginning of August. On the last day, all remaining fruits were also picked for weighing. The quality of tomato was also analyzed in the three organic fields in 2015 and compared with the yield . Lycopene and glutamicacid contents in Fields H and I were significantly higher than those in Field H . In contrast,no significant differences in antioxidant content, polygalacturonase activity,and sugar content were observed among the three fields, but the acid content in Field G was slightly lower than in Field I. Therefore, the soil conditions of Fields H and I would improve both yield and quality in tomato cultivation.Bacterial biomass and nutrient circulation activities were examined in the three organic fields of 2015 . The bacterial biomass in the fields ranged from 9.0 × 108 to 1.4 × 109 cells/g-soil. No relationship between bacterial biomass and tomato yield was observed, but the N and P circulation activities were significantly higher in Fields H and It han those in Field G.

The results suggest that high levels of N and P circulation activities in soil contributes for the enhancement of tomato yield and quality. Recent reports show that only 1% of agricultural fields in the world are cultivated under an organic farming system . This is typically because the yields under organic farming are unstable or because a successful organic cultivation requires several years of experience. In the current study, we investigated the suitable soil conditions for tomato cultivation under an organic farming system.Soil microorganisms play several beneficial roles in cultivated land such as decomposition of organic materials, nitrification, and P mineralization. Therefore,microorganisms are important parameters for soil fertility. In our previous study, we showed that TC, TN, and C/N ratio are closely related to the bacterial biomass and nutrient cycling activities in soil Enhancement of microorganisms and their activities are more important under organic systems than under conventional systems, because microorganisms help to supply nutrients to plants by decomposing the added organic materials. Properly controlled TC, TN and C/N ratios result in a high level bacterial biomass and enhanced N and Pcirculation activities.

Generally, the yields under organic systems are either unstable or lower compared to those in the conventional systems. Nitrogen availability is the most important in limiting yield of tomato under organic farming systems . A previous study demonstrated that high level of tomato yields under organic farming systems than that under conventional systems was associated to the high nitrogen mineralization rate and higher microbial diversity in soils under organic systems.In this study, we found that properly controlled TC, TN, and C/N ratio and high levels of N circulation activity and P circulation activity resulted into higher tomato yield in the organic fields compared to the chemically fertilized fields. Therefore, enhancement of the number and activities of microorganisms by maintenance of the soil condition seem necessary for achieving high yield of tomato from organic farming systems.Organic crop products are typically considered to be of high quality.In general, quality and quantity are oppositely related in crop products obtained under conventional farming systems . In this study, lycopene, glutamic acid,and acid contents in tomato fruit seemed to be enhanced in the high-yielding organic fields. Lycopene is a major antioxidant component , and glutamic acid, sugar, and acidity are the major taste indicators in tomato . Enhancement of sugar and organic acid contents in organically produced tomatoes have also been reported previously . Therefore, appropriate soil conditions in organic systems not only enhance the yield of tomato but also can improve the quality.A suitable organic soil condition of tomato would be also effective for other vegetable fruits. In this point, the amount of TN and the balance of C/N in soil are most important, because higher C/N ratio inhibits reproduction and enhances vegetative growth . However, crop production could be increased only after the organic soil enhances activities of microorganisms maintaining appropriate nutrients for plants.

The instruments encompass abroad spectrum of questions pertinent to production practices, social demographics,individual attitude, beliefs, perceptions, as well as the characteristics of farms. The organic production in the survey may take the form of the USDA certified, certification exempt, or transitioning farms. The interview were conducted by trained personnel following the well-established procedures, which insures the veracity of data collected. However, it is also in evidence that some self-selection biases occurred due to the fact that the higher level of education were associated with organic producers and they were inclined to finish the survey retained in the sample, which make the organic operations in the sample high than the overall percentage in Georgia farms in 2012 Census of Agriculture.The defect may constrain the effort to reach a general extrapolation beyond the survey data.

In Table 1, the variables covered in the survey and the corresponding preliminary statistics were reported to provide a profile of small farmers in the Southern region of states. We approached farmers’ choice of organic farming and potential factors of influence with the help of the logit regression model. After comparative study on the logit, the probit, and the linear probability models, being alike in ways in analyzing categorical data , we first exclude the linear probability model for its bias and inefficiency. The logit and probit models are arguably equivalent, only many investigators prefer the former for easy interpretation of parameters. For the sake of comparability, we used the logit model hereof. Since rich documents related to the logit model are readily available in the literature, the authors just present a model brief in the context of this investigation, rather than a thoroughgoing model discussion in the coming section. As usual, the most challenging part of modelling is associated with model selection among many alternatives.

In this study, we adopted the approach of Purposeful Selection of Variables , which usually retains important confounding variables and result potentially in a slightly richer model. We beganour model fitting by a univariate analysis of all variable relevant. Any variable with a significant univariate test at 0.25 level was selected as a candidate for the multivariate analysis. In an iterative process, covariates are removed from the model if they are non-significant and not a confounder. Significance is evaluated at the 0.1 level and confounding as a change in any remaining parameter estimate greater than 15% as compared to the full model. A change in a parameter estimate above the 15% indicates that the excluded variable was important in the sense of providing a needed adjustment for one or more of the variables remaining in the model. At the end of this iterative process of deleting, refitting,and verifying, the model contains significant covariates and confounders. Then,we took into account of any variable not selected for the original multivariate model and added them back one at a time, with all significant covariates and confounders retained earlier. In such a way, other variables which, by themselves,were not significantly related to the outcome but became an important contributor in the presence of other variables will be included in the final model.

The marketing channel is identified as a key factor on farmers’ conversion decision.We were attentive to the long list of marketing channels, including farmers market, roadside stands, directly to consumers, wholesale markets, processors, restaurants, food stores, and schools. The access to farmers market was retained in the model as a significant factor. Producers who sell on farmers market had a26% increment of probability in converting to organic farming in comparison with those with no access. Similarly, the accessibility reduced the likelihood of farmers remaining in conventional farming by 19.6%. The impact is the largest among all influential variables, which implies the vital role of the farmers market for organic products. Farmers market could relate organic products to other value-added attributes such as freshness and locally produced, which enable an easy claim on premium price. In addition, farmers market tends to tolerate the unstable and inconsistent supply in both quantity and quality of organic products.The absences of other market channels in the model may not necessarily mean they are less importance, rather it likely reflected a reality that they were perceived by organic farmers as inaccessible or less accessible at the time of our survey. Finding reliable buyers was identified as a major barrier from a long list of potential ones including price premium, distance to organic markets, handling costs, and competition with non-organic products, and access to capital through lenders. The result seemed contradict the claim on a great demand for organic products. The solution to the puzzle is that existence of a great demand for organic products showed an unbalanced spatial structure and could not be extrapolated into areas not adjacent to metropolis.

Furthermore, the study tried to indicate which vegetables accumulated the most nutrients. results demonstrate that organically grown vegetables generally contain a significantly higher level of macro elements compared to the ones grown in a conventional way. It is commonly known that fertilizers, whether the mineral or organic ones importantly affect the content of elements in the soil as well as in plant tissues. Other very important factors are the physicochemical characteristics of the soil and the climate conditions.The content of Ca in the soil depends primarily on the type of bedrock from which it originated and on the degree of weathering processes. In Poland, the content of Ca in the top layers of the mineral soil ranges from 1000 to 34,300mg∙kg−1 . Our results revealed a much lower concentration of Ca in the soil cultivated in a conventional way, compared to the organic one. This might be due to the regular compost application.

Stępień and A damiak in their 5-year field study investigated the influence of the different type of fertilizers on the chemical properties of the soil. Their results clearly demonstrated that long-term compost application increases the content of Ca compared to another type of fertilizers. Plants usually contain quite a high amount of Ca, on average 5000 – 30,000 mg∙kg−1. The main reason for the high content of this element in the plant tissues is the elevated concentration of Ca in the soil solution. However, the uptake of Ca by the plant is usually slower than the uptake of other elements . The biological factors affecting the Ca intake are primarily the species and variety of the plant, root and rhizosphere structure,plant transpiration, my corrhiza activity, and the effect of phytohormones .In our study, a significantly higher concentration of Ca was found in organic celery, potato, and parsley root. This is in agreement with the results of the meta-analysis conducted by Williams. In 21 out of 47 studies, it was found that a higher content of Ca was reported in the organically grown vegetables; in20, the amount was similar between the two growing systems; in 6 only, a higher content was recorded in conventional plants.

Similarly, Warman and Havard in their 3-year study found an increased amount of Ca in organic carrot compared to conventional one.The average concentration of Mg in arable soils of Poland is 770 mg∙kg−1.However, this value is much higher in western Poland were both farms are located and it reaches up to 980 mg∙kg−1 . Soils of both organic and conventional farms evaluated in this study revealed Mg concentrations below average,which is 503 mg∙kg−1 and 668 mg∙kg−1, respectively. Generally, the lighter the soil, the less Mg it contains. That could explain lower concentration of this element in the organic soil compared to the conventional one. On the other hand, the soil of the conventional farm was represented mainly by podsols made of clay loam.Therefore, the soil physicochemical characteristics might be one of the reasons.Mg is very mobile; therefore, the majority of this element is often moved to deeper parts of the soil profile, particularly in the case of light sandy soils .

Considering the importance of this element in the plant growth it can be suspected that a significant dose of fertilizers containing Mg was applied in the conventional farm which would contribute to higher levels of it. The concentration of Mg in plant tissues varies between 3000 and 10,000 mg∙kg−1 and it depends on the plant species, its age, organ and plant demand for Mg. Generally,higher concentrations of this element are observed in the aboveground parts of the plant compared to the roots . It agrees with our results where the Mgcon centration in parsley leaves was found to be higher than in the root and generally the highest among all analyzed plants. Although the concentration of Mg was higher in the conventionally cultivated soil, plant tissue analysis demonstrated a higher Mg content in all organically grown vegetables compared to conventional ones.

It is consistent with several other studies where a superior concentration of Mg in organically grown vegetables was reported.Stępień and Adamiak  reported that on average N concentration in the soils cultivated in different ways vary between 800 and 1000 mg∙kg−1. The same authors demonstrated that among different types of fertilizers, organic ones increased the content of N in the most significant way. In our study, the organically cultivated soil was characterized by an increased concentration of N and it was over two times higher than in conventionally treated soil . We hypothesize that the main reason for high N content is the frequent application of compost and cow manure in the organically managed farm. Nitrogen is considered to be one of the most important nutrients for the plant growth and development, primarily because it is essential in protein synthesis and it builds nucleic acids.

The study identifies the best practices not only in economic terms but also from a climate change perspective. However, organic rice farming is found to be more respectful of the environment, albeit at the expense of lower yields in the short term. Nevertheless, these practices ensure higher financial profits, even in the short term.It seems that decision-making based exclusively on traditional accounting information,and/or on data on the environmental performance of the specific agricultural productive stage tends to hide environmental degradation. Therefore,further research is needed, along with practical improvements in sustainability accounting, to provide essential guidelines for the better administration of natural resources.The remainder of this article is organised as follows. Section 2 discusses the advances made in the accounting of the environmental impact of farming. Section3 explains the methodology adopted. Section 4 presents the results and a discussion of these findings and, finally, section 5 offers some concluding remarks,while identifying some of the limitations of the study and avenues for further research.

Over recent decades, input-intensive agricultural technologies have brought about significant changes in agricultural production, especially, for cereal crops.The increasing use of genetically modified seeds, irrigation, chemical fertilisers,pesticides and mechanisation have, in some cases, resulted in higher yields. However, they have also resulted in undesirable anthropogenic causes of climate change with increased greenhouse gas emissions due to a growing dependence on scarce fossil fuels . Studies of the industrialisation of farming have provided evidence that certain practices mean the misuse of common resources. Agriculture’s vast energy consumption is today estimated at an annual 11 exajoules , and this amount is set to rise with expanding populations and the mechanisation of farming .Additionally, modern agricultural practices are having other environmental impacts, including, the degradation of soil and water quality, and the loss of biodiversity,wildlife habitats and landscapes . The heavy dependence of farming on chemical pesticides and fertilisers has increased in recent years and today they pose a serious threat to human health and the environment. However, despite the investment in pesticides, pests are calculated to destroy 50% of treated crops worldwide. Yet, at the same time, millions of humans suffer the effects of pesticide poisonings each year.

The overuse of chemical pesticides,combined with mono cropping, is also the cause of the loss of biodiversity ,while the overuse of fertilisers is one of the main causes of water pollutant runoff and leaching .In conventional farming, the increase in required inputs results not only in unwanted environmental degradation but also in an undesired rise in operating costs. Thus, the average net income per farm has declined and the average debt per farm has increased in the long term . As a result, a call has been made to shift the goal from maximising productivity to optimising agricultural production while upholding environmental and social justice .The need to reduce the GHG emissions from agriculture has highlighted the urgency of shifting to non-fossil fuels. Here, each new scenario requires a specific accounting measure and a method for predicting natural resource usemaximization. Accounting for natural resources in this way should provide an efficient system for monitoring, controlling and mitigating irresponsible be haviour, thus making it possible to achieve the aforementioned goals of maximization. The environmental and social elements involved in economic activities can be addressed through sustainability accounting, a school of practice that provides tools for performance measurement and reporting when considering such matters as carbon reduction and water shortages or surpluses attributable to climate change .

Research carried out to date monitoring the impact of agriculture on climate change has, in some instances, compared the productivity and environmental impact of different styles of farming, but it does not quantify differences in economic performance  . Thus, various studies specifically analyse the differences in productivity of conventional and organic farming   and although they take into account the environmental dimension, their focus is very much on technical efficiency. Clearly, the limitation is that technical efficiency is ultimately measured in terms of the yields, inputs and prices explicitly recorded in a farm’s accounts, and as such needs to be economic-centred. The research conducted to date tends merely to consider the minimisation of current expenses but it fails to take externalities into account.The solution proposed from within the academic world for revealing and “internalizing”farming externalities is that of placing a monetary value on them  .This paper contributes to the analysis of how climate change externalities might be accounted for by presenting a microeconomic perspective for rice production and the measurement of the environmental impact of farming practices conventional and organic. The economic performance indicators used here include yields per hectare in kilograms, sales revenues, and income both before and after wages. These indicators have previously been considered as being representative of economic performance.

Precision farming in crop production is the application of exact farming technologies to manage spatial and temporal variability for the purpose of improving crop performance and environmental quality . Precision farming has become established due to advances in technology which enable accurate geo-referencing, real-time data acquisition, sensing, telemetric and variable rate application of inputs. Precision farming in crop production uses extensive data from a farmer’s field and the surrounding region to help predict weather conditions and optimize operations . For effective collection and analysis of relevant crop cultivation information, precision farming in crop production employs the services of agro-based remote/sensory technologies.Remote sensing technology  refers to the science of wirelessly observing and obtaining information on crop and soil characteristics using devices attached to aircraft, satellite, and agricultural equipment such as tractor .

The sensors are made up of electronic probes and optical scanners that detect changes in the soil and surrounding environment. Remote sensors vary in the type of platform they are mounted, based on light source,spatial and spectral resolution. Remote sensors are classified as passive or active depending on the light source.Passive sensors rely on sunlight,thereby limiting recording to the time when the cloud cover is minimal and the sun is illuminating the target area. These restrictions often limit data collection around noon to maximize available sunlight. Passive sensors are mounted on satellites or airplanes. In contrast to passive sensor, active sensors use their own modulated light at defined or fixed wavelengths. The sensor illuminates the object and uses photodiodes to measure the portion of light that is reflected . A primary advantage of active sensor over passive is its ability to obtain measurements at any period, regardless of the time of the day or season in addition to eliminating the effects of sun angle and cloud cover. Active sensors are mounted on satellites  or ground vehicles .

RST can provide useful information for many crop management decisions, including detection of nutrient or water deficiencies and excesses in the soil, damages caused by insects, weeds, or diseases in various portions of the cultivated fields. RST obtains information about an object without directly contacting it. Data collected can range from a simple colour photograph to the crop’s emission of electromagnetic energy . Sensordata can provide farmers real-time information regarding their crop condition, allowing them to respond and make corrective or other management decisions to maximize production. Using a combination of sensors such as temperature, light and humidity, helps the farmer detect risks of frost/drought, possible plant pests/diseases and establish watering requirements based on soil dampness . With the RST, data can be collected for an entire field as compared to traditional scouting methods which only provides single point or partial field coverage while data collected over multiple dates during the season allows farmers to monitor trends in crop progression and manage cultivation of crop in addition to monitoring the exact conditions in which the plants are growing from the comfort of homes.The objectives of smart  agriculture among others is to help control conditions and closely monitor performance of crops, where the smallest amount of change in climate can affect the final outcome, and to determine the best conditions for each crop, by comparing the data obtained during the best harvests.

Remote-sensory technology has a variety of applications, including environmental monitoring,site-specific agronomic management,land cover classification, climate- and land-use-change detection, and drought monitoring . The ability of a remote sensor to detect subtle differences in vegetation makes it a useful tool for quantifying within-field variability, evaluating crop growth, and managing fields based on current conditions that may be overlooked using typical ground-based visual scouting methods during crop cultivation. While collecting real-time data on weather, soil, health of crops and air quality is important, it is also necessary to apply precision in crop harvesting to reduce damage and loss. To help cope with the trending resultant events of climate change and to generate enough food to meet the ever-growing demands of a growing global population for food, crop production needs to embrace smarter farming methods through the use of technologies such as agriculturally applicable sensor technology.Using RST in PF will revolutionize the data collection in agricultural field, support the highly sought after automated agriculture system  which requires intensive sensing of environmental conditions at the ground level and rapid communication of the raw data to a local or remote server where there is the availability of computational and storage power, the identification of pests in the crops, drought or increased moisture, decision making, while the control of farm equipment is done in real time using automated actuation devices.

The yield increments with biochar amendments following AWDI could be due to the maximum productive tillers/hill and higher nutrients availability to rice grain compared to other treatments. Sanjit et al.  reported that rice grain yield was a bit higher in conventional irrigation compared to the AWDI treated field plot yield  during the dry boro season in Bangladesh.Ali et al.  also reported that the AWDI treatment showed superiority for the rice yield performance and seasonal CH4 emission reduction, water savings, and maximum water productivity index under the dry seasonal conditions in Bangladesh. It was also reported that moderate wetting and drying increased rice yield, decreased water use and CH4 emissions . In this study, biochar applications 20 – 30 t/ha under alternate wetting and drying  irrigation resulted least cumulative CH4 emissions and GWPs, while highest water productivity and moderate yield performance were found in the rainfed wet season and dry boro season.

The lower CH4 emission under AWDI treated field plots may be due to increased aeration, stabilization of soil organic carbon, improved soil redox potential status and accumulation of free iron oxides, sulfate ions which acted as electron acceptors, thereby,reduced methanogens’activity. On the contrary, Ali et al.  reported that biochar amendments in paddy soils increased cumulative CH4 emissions. This contrasting result may be due to the variation in the composition of biochar as well as different agro-ecological zones. Zhang et al.  reported that the soil amendment with biochar was found effective for mitigating CH4 emission, which also increased rice yield by 25% – 26% compared to inorganic fertilizers. Ali et al. also reported that intermittent irrigations significantly reduced total seasonal CH4 emissions by 27% compared to conventional  irrigated rice paddy field. In this study, biochar amendments improved the soil redox status and soil porosity, mostly observed under the AWDI treated field plots.Consequently, total seasonal CH4 emission significantly decreased in AWDI plot compared to the conventional irrigated rice field. Hiya et al.  found that total GWP of CH4 significantly decreased with AWDI treatments as compared to continuous flooded plots.

This result also showed that AWD irrigation system is better than conventional irrigation in terms of water productivity index and water savings. Higher productivity index was found in biochar amended field plots under the AWDI method compared to conventional irrigation. Singh et al. reported that combined application of rice husk biochar and FYM with reduced chemical fertilizer under less water inputs was effective to sustain wheat crop yield in the highly vulnerable dry tropical agro-ecosystem of India. Hossainet al.  reported that water productivity increased from 0.35 kg·m−3 to 0.65kg·m−3 following better research management over the farmers’ practice, environment friendly technology for reducing groundwater use in the irrigated ecosystem.Xiao et al.  reported that rice straw biochar amendments at 20 t/ha and 40 t/ha significantly decreased CH4 emissions by 29.7% and 15.6%, respectively,while rice yield was increased by 24% and 33% and irrigation water productivity was increased by 36% and 42%, respectively, over the control. In this study, biochar amendments 20 – 30 t/ha showed the maximum free iron oxide contents under both AWDI and conventional irrigated  field soils, which was supported by Ali et al. .

This study showed that there were negative correlations between total seasonal CH4 fluxes with grain yield, water productivity index, soil pH, soil Eh, soil porosity, soil organic carbon, total N, available P and S , while positive correlations were recorded with plant productive tillers and above ground biomass.Hiya et al.  stated that total seasonal CH4 flux was negatively correlated with grain yield, water productivity index, soil Eh, organic matter, total N,available P and S, soil porosity and soil pH under continuous irrigated treatment.The increased water productivity of rice and water saving aspects will make farmers and other stakeholders to adopt AWDI technique. Therefore, biochar applications @ 15 – 20 t/ha with half of the recommended chemical fertilizers and adopting alternate wetting drying irrigations may be a feasible technique for reducing yield scaled CH4 emission as well as GWPs and sustaining rice productivity through improving soil properties and rice rhizosphere environmental conditions. The alteration or modification in an organism’s genome using modern DNA technology is called genetic engineering or genetic modification. Since it involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest the resulting artifact is often referred as transgenic and or genetically modified . The ability to introduce alien genes from distant species or life forms into plants has made available an entirely new and novel gene resource pool to breeders in their pursuit to improve crops for survival, productivity, and products.

Examination of 31 documented cases of African and Latin American farmers adopting “resource conserving agriculture” found that yield improved in19 of the 25 cases that reported on it, food security improved in seven of eight cases, and net income improved in 19 of 23 cases  and observed that successful “resource conserving agriculture” initiatives did not occurs pontaneously rather required a variety of skills from smallholders and their allies which included adaptive farm management, effective producer organizations, entrepreneurship, capacity to innovate, value addition and boundary spanning, these being noted in the case of traditional farming in Ethiopia .Unfortunately, the struggling Ethiopian small farmers and pastoralists have already been hit hard by climate variability, losing harvests and livestock to drought, floods and struggling to survive amid changing rainfall patterns.

Sub-Saharan Africa is considered one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, because of the high exposure and the low adaptive capacity of agriculture which is the most important livelihood .Mean annual temperature of Ethiopia has already increased by 1.3˚C between 1960 and 2006, also daily temperature data indicate significantly increasing trends in the frequency of hot days, and much larger increasing trends in the frequency of hot nights . Continued changing patterns and intensities of rainfall with increasing temperatures expected to have dire consequences for all Ethiopians, but especially more than 70 million poor rural people whose survival depended on rainfed agriculture,in 2005, 39% of Ethiopia’s population lay below the national poverty line.As the impacts of climate hazards and change occur alongside other trends, for example, population growth, land degradation, poor infrastructure, and low opportunities for markets, indicating the compounded nature of the problems faced by the rural community; the efforts to tackle climate hazards, variability and change in Ethiopia must be aligned with the overall development plans .

Despite the Government of Ethiopia and other development actors giving widespread recognition of this by planning for climate change, most attempts are isolated and suffer from under-investment.There is an important need of in depth research and closer scrutiny of how the local climate is changing, what the local communities are thinking about this change, what the small farmers can do in the long term as adaptations,and possible interventions/future investments needed to deliver sustainable results. As indicated above, till now, the Ethiopian agriculture has remained rather “traditional and ecological”—little change being experienced like “agricultural intensification” but to cater the need of the increased population, the traditional system has proved insufficient, has to be improved especially to cope with the climate change instabilities. For such a need the necessity for “ecological intensification” under unfavorable conditions was advocated which depends on reducing the reliance on subsistence cereal production and integration with livestock enterprises, greater crop diversification and agroforestry practices that may ensure higher economic value and soil conservation . So, to understand the nexus of climate change and sustainable development, what needed is an in-depth field survey to find out the local community’s ideas and perceptions and how they are responding to climate irregularities.

As in most vulnerable communities, there is a symbiotic relation between lives, livelihoods and the biophysical environment. It is hypothesized that in response to the climate change the small farmers, in the way of the process of adaptation to all changes and survival strategy,may have modified and/or replaced many practices which have become unsustainable and adopt new ones can be demonstrated in the present study in the Highlands of Ethiopia. This understanding is also important for understanding the level of success of the process of constant adjustment to change be considered as an indicative of the adaptive capacity and knowledge of the rural farmers as has been stressed for attaining sustainable development. A focus group of elderly men and women  who have been living for long in the area were selected from the community to discuss about climate and farming .The discussion was facilitated in local language , as these community members lived for long periods in the area had good understanding of conditions and changes in their surrounding and also about the “normal climate conditions”. Discussion was started by posing questions such as what are the “good”seasons and what were the “bad” seasons, how did they understand and describe climate and climate change at the local levels. The participants described “good season” as that give enough rain with regular distribution that can support crops, trees and animals in sufficient amount, there would be no fear of starvation and insecurity to the family; whereas they described “bad” season associated with low and irregular rains, heat, hails and storms bringing crop damage and the fear to face food shortage, starvation and insecurity to the family. The participants were solicited to identify and list the bad and good points of the earlier as well as during recent years in a chart and filter tip pen, the main memorable indicators of climate situation in the area from past were identified by the participants as rain fall, heat, hail and coolness.

Successful implementation of these strategies will improve production and favour the farmer and the farming families. The farmers are complaining of sweeping changes they could not comprehend as their previous knowledge could not serve them competently. It is thus necessary to determine the extent to which climate change has impacted on the farmers and their families in the region and as well important to testthe suggested adaptation strategies for conformity in the locality. Niger Delta like most coastal low lying regions of the world is constantly faced with flooding of various degrees.However, due to increased and varying extent of precipitation attributable to climate change, the occurrence of flooding has increased with rivers and oceans easily overflowing their banks. This was observed in the 2012flooding that impacted negatively on agriculture in the region.

The flood ravaged farmlands, storage buildings and farmers houses. Climate change seems to have impacted to a low extent on water availability for irrigation as well as drying up of ponds and streams. This finding is true to the region as artificial irrigation is seldom practiced and increased precipitation has ensured constant supply of water to ponds and streams. As stated, wet regions will receive more rain while dry regions will become even drier. Increase in mortality rate tied directly to climate change in the region was not indicated by the respondents. This finding disagrees with who stated that there will be increased death rate due to factors favoured by climate change.Climate change has impacted negatively but moderately on most farming families though with some farmers reporting that the extent of impact is slightly high on cost of production as well as on net profit from farming thus impacting on poverty level of farmers in the region. This finding is in agreement with that of that stated that difficulty on farm operations and cost of agricultural production will increase with decreasing returns to the farmer.Findings of the study revealed that significant difference does not exist between the mean responses of the farmers and the extension workers on the perceived impacts of climate change on farmers and the farming families in the region, as indicated by t-test. Any observed difference is not a statistical difference, but a mere chance which could have resulted from sampling error. The farmers and the extension workers strongly agreed to construction of foot bridges with wood, stones and sand bags as a coping strategy mainly due to its affordability and suitability and not waiting for government and foreign aid. This strategy is really in use in the region to divert flood water and create walk ways.The respondents disagreed with planting deeper than the usual planting depth as a coping strategy likely due to the specified planting depth for various crops. If the depth is increased beyond the required, the plants may not germinate well or results to scanty germination as some of the seedlings may not successfully pass through the increased depth to germinate. Sand filling water logged area to reclaim lost land seems to be an expensive and tedious practice as a coping strategy for an indigent farmer. Trips of sand to fill the vast water logged area could cost the farmer a fortune he may not be able to afford. This is the explanation given by majority of the respondents as to why they disagreed with this option as a coping strategy. For changing profession entirely, most farmers interviewed revealed that “farming is all they know and for the elderly, it is already late to change profession”.The farmers disagreed to changing from production of agriculture to marketing due to the vital role of local farmers as producers. On further inquiry using the interview, the farmers simply reply “if everyone switches to marketing, who will do the production for supplies to be marketed?” For artificial irrigation as an alleviating strategy, most farmers in the region are too poor to own boreholes in their farms. The region being a coastal one does record high occasion of rainfall in a planting cycle. This was explained as the reason why most crop farmers in the region practice rain-fed agriculture. This view is supported by who stated that the abundant rainfall in the region favours rain-fed agriculture.The farmers and the extension workers agreed to most of the suggested coping strategies. These findings are favoured by the views of many authors such as  – who suggested the adaptive measures against climate change as contained in their respective works.The opinion of the farmers and the extension workers is at variance with each other, may be due to varying degree of education, awareness and experience in farming as well as their geographical location. Smallholder dairy farming systems in the highlands of Ethiopia and elsewhere in East Africa  are classified as rural, peri-urban and urban systems. The major classification criterion is demographic; the peri-urbanand urban systems are located around and in towns and cities.

Plants are most economical and feasible production systems for vaccines or recombinant products. Replacement of fermenters and bioreactors with contained plant growth rooms or greenhouses with appropriate biological containment reduces manufacturing cost.Production costs of a recombinant protein in transgenic plants are 10 – 50-fold lower than that by E. coli fermentation. Plant vaccines can also be delivered orally, overcoming the cost and inconvenience of purification and injections. Use of plants as source of therapeutic proteins has a major advantage that productionin large quantities is possible. Feasibility for scaling up and high expression level of recombinant genes/proteins are also high in plant systems. Also,large scale cultivation is possible, and this can be adopted in less developed or resource-poor nations which lack sophisticated facilities or infrastructure for production of life-saving drugs.

Designing a recombinant vector, introduction and integration into plant system for production of antibodies, or other proteins of therapeutic value is relatively easy. The edible vaccines are easy to handle as well. When a new microbe or its antigen is evolved posing a threat to human health, it is easy to modify the synthesis of plant-based vaccines than animal-based ones. Edible vaccines are easy to deliver through oral administration and can be directly consumed without need for any injection. Edible vaccine is a needle-less vaccination method or a substitute of painful immunization procedures that require sophistication or trained manpower. It is also inexpensive, attractive to children, can be stored nearby the place of usage, harmless, and offers systemic and mucosal immunity. Edible vaccines are safe oral-delivery vehicles wherein specific plant tissues such as grains, fruits, or leaves can be used as formulation of vaccines, without extensive purification and processing. Post-translational modifications such as glycosylation, folding and assembly are significant for a protein to be biologically active and function as a vaccine.

Plants have machinery for expression, folding, assembly, and glycosylation, necessary for preservation of immunogenic activity of vaccines. In plants, the foreign or recombinant proteins of therapeutic value are glycosylated, accurately folded and the multimeric proteins assembled properly, to have structural integrity and biological activity for functioning as a vaccine.Protein synthesis as well as post-translational modifications of proteins in plants is similar to that of animal cells, making it possible to use plants as bioreactors for animal proteins/pharmaceuticals. The plantibodies or plant vaccines produced using plant-based systems are mostly safe and devoid of any toxic components.Plants do not host animal or human pathogens such as viruses or prions, as in the mammalian cell culture systems or transgenic animals, and hence do not transmit these. Chances of contamination with the pathogens during fermentation and extraction processes,is less in plant systems, Plant-based vaccines and therapeutics also have nobiosafety and environmental issues as with other animal or microbial systems of production of vaccines, except that of transgene containment.

The plant products can be stored safely for long duration at room temperature,unlike the need for refrigeration in case of other animal-based vaccines. Edibleor plant-based vaccines can also be easily produced by a freeze-dried process,leading to formulations with high stability under a cold chain-free distribution. Proteins produced in plants such as seeds remain stable for years at ambient temperatures, without loss of activity. Plant expression system has several advantages for human as well as veterinary vaccine production, however, only few of vaccine candidates are under clinical trials. Commercial human vaccines are not available due to low level of expression,relatively weak efficacy, and comparatively shallow knowledge on the characteristics of plant-made antigen and production system.Some of the challenges or constraints in the plant-based vaccines are discussed. Immunogenic response depends on nature of the vaccine, route of administration and the delivery system. Many antigens are poor immunogens, recognized poorly by the immune system and are prone to degradation in the harsh environment of the digestive tract. Plant cells protect vaccine antigen and prevent degradation as it passes through the gut.

Immunogen such as Cholera toxin Bsubunit, which can modify the cellular environment to present the antigen,can act as an efficient transmucosal carrier molecule and delivery system for plant-derived subunit vaccines and can overcome this problem. It is difficult to measure the effective dose for a mucosally delivered vaccine as it is exposed to the complex environment of the gastrointestinal tract. Further, or alvaccines may require co-administration with specific adjuvants to reach sufficient immunogenic activity. An insufficient amount of antigen would not produce the immune response needed for protection against disease and in appropriate dosage could lead to tolerance to vaccine and ineffectiveness of vaccine.